AmiAmalia—
Knitted from Memories
The knitwear label AmiAmalia stands for a new form of elegance—minimalist and radically high-quality. With her brand, Amalia Săftoiu weaves her Transylvanian heritage into a modern vision, creating fashion that endures while the world continues to turn.
(Knits) In a world of overproduction, luxury often begins with renunciation—of fast-paced trends, of excess, of disposable goods. For Amalia Săftoiu, a lawyer with an international career, it was a break from everything familiar when she took over a defunct knitwear factory in Transylvania in 2017. Despite having no design experience, Săftoiu was armed with a crystal-clear vision and a memory as delicate as it was formative: the feeling of pure wool on the skin—honest, warm, alive.
From that memory, AmiAmalia was born—and with it, the realisation that textile honesty has become a rarity in the global fashion industry. No synthetics, no warehouses full of overproduction, no room for fast fashion. Instead: small batches, thoughtful cuts, and elegant, high-quality fabrics such as baby alpaca, Italian cashmere, and mulberry silk. At the heart of it all is something that today seems almost lost: knitting as craft, as language, as textile meditation. Yarns that speak a quiet yet powerful language—they warm without weighing down, and cling without constricting. The cuts are minimalist, but never severe. Every jumper, every pair of knit trousers, every dress follows a subtle dramaturgy of form, function, and emotion. The textures are soft and layered—from whisper-thin silk knits to voluminous alpaca ribbing.
The collections draw on the colours and patterns of Transylvanian folklore—above all, the “Romanian blouse,” the poetic centrepiece of the line. This is an archetypal garment passed down through generations, adorned with ornaments that tell stories of origin, status, and transformation. Here, tradition is not preserved but reimagined—stitch by stitch. Transylvania—often reduced to a literary myth—is in truth the textile heart of Romania. The region, shaped by German and Hungarian influences, combines artisanal know-how with a powerful visual language. Săftoiu uses this wisely—her campaigns with model Diana Moldovan stage the landscape as an emotional stage where nature, fabric, and body resonate together.
“A natural yarn is breathable, durable,
odour-neutral—but above all, it is ‘honest.”
As an entrepreneur, Săftoiu operates efficiently, almost like an engineer: short production cycles, returns minimized through precise consultation, and the avoidance of overproduction. Everything is made on demand—what is ordered today leaves the workshop just a few days later. It’s a beautiful return to bespoke craftsmanship in the rhythm of modernity.
That AmiAmalia is more than a niche project is shown by its growing success, which includes appearances at fashion weeks in Bucharest and Budapest, and collaborations with stylists like Domnica Mărgescu, whose store “Aparterre” has long been a fashion landmark in Eastern Europe. Săftoiu´s fashion shows feature a sensitive cast of actors, fashion insiders, and an 86-year-old woman who graces the runway with elegance and history. Fashion as inclusion, not as pose.
With the opening of the first flagship store in Bucharest at the end of 2024, the next step toward greater visibility has been taken not just locally but across Europe. The values of AmiAmalia are universal: quality, sustainability, transparency. A natural yarn, says Săftoiu, is breathable, durable, odour-neutral, and above all, “honest”—just like her brand. And like the promise that a place like Bucharest could become the new centre of quiet sophistication. Just as Magda Butrym has done for Warsaw and Nanushka for Budapest, AmiAmalia shows in Romania: relevance arises where tradition, courage, and substance are not mutually exclusive, but are woven into something new.